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We are the soul of a newspaper. Not just any newspaper. We are the soul of the Toronto Sun from back in the day when it was the tabloid everyone in Toronto talked about. We are the people who helped make it happen. Sadly, most of us are long gone from the Sun. Many are now deceased. But when we were all a part of the Sun, as it was, it was a vibrant, kick ass paper that captured the impossible dream.

Saturday, 10 October 2009

A memo sent to TSF explains the current survey requests popping up on Sun Media's daily and weekly community newspaper websites.

Read closely, take notes. Some people have not been reading employee and reader feedback on TSF. They are puzzled by "heightened customer churn and circulation erosion."

As for design options in the survey:

Dailies:"Identify the optimal content organization to adopt – currently community dailies all have a varied approach to paper layout."

Weeklies:"OBJECTIVE: Determine the optimal design to adopt for all English Community Weekly products."

It is called cloning, AKA cookie cutter journalism.

Content? Two complaints we hear most often - reduced local content and content in the tabloids being repeated in community papers.

The memo:

COMMUNITY DAILIES – SATISFACTION RESEARCH

WHY REQUIRED:Local publishers have experienced heightened customer churn and circulation erosion in recent months. Sun Media needs to determine the cause of this loss to determine its root cause and whether it is due to internal or external variables

OBJECTIVE:Determine current satisfaction and value for the money perception among readers of local community newspapers. Investigate drivers of poor satisfaction – lack of local content, inclusion of Sun Media content, timeliness of delivery, redesign elements, etc.

12 comments:

Quote: "....heightened customer churn and circulation erosion in recent months. Sun Media needs to determine the cause of this loss to determine its root cause and whether it is due to internal or external variables."

They're joking, right?

So, the result of this "research" will be journalism by public consensus?

what's worse, asking the question OR asking the question and not acting on it? Really this will create change for these poor communities? Take a look at your local community website, ever see the link?

Do they really need to do a survey on this? Half of the questions in the survey are geared towards newspaper staff and most readers wouldn't comprehend what is actually being asked. It also takes too much time. There's no way they will get an accurate assessment from this.

It's simple.The "churn and erosion" is due to the lack of local coverage.The erosion of the newsroom is reflected by the erosion of circulation.Newspapers, even though privately owned, are a public trust.

Don't worry, if PKP gets his NHL team, the players will have to rent their uniforms and the general manager will have to work from his car.

As for this survey, it's a joke. What if people simply wants to confirm that the newspaper is doing a good job providing local coverage? What if the readers don't want some massive design change?This survey doesn't allow for that. Of course, no matter what the responses are, the corporate suits at Sun Media and Quebecor will twist them any way they want and ram their poorly thought out changes and "ideas" through anyway.

Like they'll actually listen. At our paper when the redesign came in, we got flooded with complaints and cancellations about how they hated the new look. Many readers in our area are 50 and over and can't even read the new font size (the LFD redesign style) and we've had many people drop the paper completely.

Did our paper do anything? Nope. We were told to tell the readers that it wasn't a company decision, it was a paper decision since we're all part of a company.

What a bunch of rubbish, just like this survey. Nothing will change and they'll proceed with their centralized mandate.

CBC reports tonight that the Mayor of Quebec City has met with Gary Bettman about a new NHL team in Quebec City. They also report that PKP would be a possible backer for the team. Work hard Sun team there is a Quebec franchise to pay for.

The Toronto Sun Family: 1971 - 2017

Current and former Sun Media employees, this blog is for you. We'd like to hear your feelings about the Sun, pro or con, your experiences and if no longer with Sun Media, what you are doing today. There is no "I" in Toronto Sun Family. Just "we."